Google has just launched an absolutely mind-blowing new feature for Google Maps called "Street View", and it's available for the following US cities: San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, Las Vegas, Denver and Miami. Street View gives you the ability to view 360° panoramas of street-level imagery on Google Maps:
For a cool demo of how this works, take a look at this fun YouTube clip:
..This page features the same YouTube clip with more information and links to read about.
This new Maps viewing experience is much better test driven than being read about so head over to Google Maps (or follow the direct city links above), center the map on the US and click "Street View" up at the top. Choose a city with a camera marker and zoom in to have a play!
_________
Checkout the extent of the underlying data:
ReplyDeletehttp://demos.immersivemedia.com/onlinecities/
That's THE OMG moment!!!
ReplyDeleteThis is very, very cool.
ReplyDeleteI've been working on a demo project that does this to a degree, just much much higher quality panoramas, and not on roads.
http://www.pano.com.au/panedia - this is a technology demo only.
Thanks, Aaron.
http://pano.com.au/blog
Too bad it requires Flash. Amazon's version from a couple years ago didn't.
ReplyDeleteMS did it first with http://preview.local.live.com, but the new Google features make this feature pretty hot.
ReplyDeleteOMGZ!
ReplyDeletehttp://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=36.113038,-115.173111&spn=0.001894,0.005407&z=18&om=1&layer=c&cbll=36.112066,-115.173077&cbp=1
Aaron,
ReplyDeleteway to go! Far more superior to what Google presents in quality.
Jef Poskanzer,
Well, at least Flash works. I have been trying qtvr object embeds and it only works in previews when creating a meshup up. Google maps wont allow saving it though. Wonder why? Pics and Video works well now. Rumour has it that Google said they would fix it, but never did. Just tried it again today.
This is a very cool feature, in deed . The posibility to include spherical imaging served interactively ought to be opened up for public input as they allow still images, video and 3D objects. Google does not show state of the art panorama technology here at all. These 360° nodes are stuck in history land. The company who did the imaging have better images on demo then that. Granted its video and not still and not full screen capable. But that is better then those badly blended pics I see now.
C'mon Google, you are suposed to head on state of the art technology.
this'll probably do wonders for Las Vegas tourism. next best thing to actually being there. i just LOVE the way you can virtually drive around a city and get a feel for the place.
ReplyDeleteIt isn't quite Street View, but Google added bus stop and route time tables to Google Maps for Austin, TX yesterday or today.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.brandonkraft.com/weblog/archives/2007/05/google_maps_tra.php
I've got well over 1,000 QTVR panoramas of my hometown taken from intersections througout the city. I've got about 35% of the city photographed. I've got GPS coordinates for each image. This is the technology I've been waiting for. Sign me up! northwest_omnipresence@yahoo.ca
ReplyDeleteCheck out some interesting Google streetview finds here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.laudontech.com/StreetView/streetview.html
This is very very cool. Hope they'll add cities soon.
ReplyDeleteI live in The Netherlands, and here we've had a website called Funda.nl offer something similar. It's a website that lists most real estate on the market, and lets you take a preview of the neighborhood.
The problem is that it is virtually not possible to navigate to other areas in this version. See what I'm talking about at this link:
http://www.funda.nl/WoningAanbod/Koop/Detail/Buurtfotos/?id=46051454-326e-417c-82d3-705cb74cbb15&objecttype=DetailKoopObject
Quality of the pics is not good.
Good effort from Google but check this link for quality of implementation that can be achieved with Flash (featured tours on the right):
ReplyDeletehttp://www.supertour.com/corporate/index.html
This is getting better and better!
ReplyDeletehttp://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Waverley+Street,+Palo+Alto+CA+94306&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=51.222969,75.322266&ie=UTF8&om=1&layer=c&cbll=37.435142,-122.140461&cbp=1,133.010009765625,0.543864870914191,1&ll=37.44345,-122.140031&spn=0.019864,0.025234&z=15
ReplyDeletei love steve jobs' MB SL AMG without license plates, LOL :-)
I like the hidden signature: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&sll=37.415556,-121.873913&sspn=0.085077,0.103512&ie=UTF8&ll=37.424673,-122.083855&spn=0.010633,0.012939&z=16&om=1&layer=c&cbll=37.420894,-122.084098&cbp=1,354.759192116477,0.501977748080631,0
ReplyDeleteVery cool enhancement. How do you integrate in into your own mashups?
ReplyDeleteMore funny street view sightings
ReplyDeleteToo bad there's so much privacy concern...http://www.thenewsroom.com/details/394362?c_id=wom-bc-js
ReplyDeleteA better heading to this would be "Facilitating all potential criminals, and stalkers... Sincerely Yours, Google."
ReplyDeleteStreet Maps of private homes? Let them publish home addresses of their management since they're the ones with all the money. This way the criminals will leave the rest of the citizens alone.